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Dear friends and members,
 First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has already taken the time to send in the 2015 renewal form with payment by using this year’s method. Though it may have involved a few extra steps, filling out the new 2015 form does help all of us in the long run. I’d also like to reassure those who used the 2014 form on the SD/PEN website that those payments have been received and processed, and we have extended your membership until the end of 2015.
I also want to thank our members for their continued patience and understanding while we make progress toward getting our website updated and fully operational again. We are currently in the process of working with a new programmer to make the necessary changes after it was recently discovered that the web developer we had engaged last year to completely rework our website dropped the ball and did not properly fulfill the terms of our contract. The good news is we have regained access to our website and can now move forward with getting it updated!
If you have not yet renewed your membership for 2015, we encourage you to do so in person at the next program meeting on Thursday, March 19. The program, titled “Getting the Price Right: The Art of Bidding Jobs,” features three experienced panel members, Hilary Achauer, Anita Palmer, and Lynette Smith. It promises to be very informative for both new and veteran freelancers alike (details below). Due to the delayed renewal campaign this year, we are inviting 2014 members who have not yet renewed to attend free of charge. Please note, the grace period for 2014 members to renew their membership for 2015 ends on March 31. Renew now to keep getting those great SD/PEN membership benefits!
Lastly, I am very pleased to announce that current board member Marcy Llamas Senese was nominated and voted in as SD/PEN’s new secretary by the board of directors. Please be sure to say “Hello” and introduce yourself to Marcy at the check-in table at the March 19 program meeting.
As always, I welcome your feedback on any aspect of the organization and encourage you to contact me or any of the board members with your suggestions and comments.
I look forward to seeing you soon.
Chris Zook
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Getting the Price Right: The Art of Bidding Jobs
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Unsure why you aren’t hearing back from prospective clients after bidding on their jobs? Want to learn how to get a leg up on the competition—including cut-rate services offered by print-on-demand publishers?
Three seasoned freelancers, Hilary Achauer, Anita Palmer, and Lynette Smith, will present valuable insights to help editors and writers put together successful job quotes without compromising one’s asking price. The moderated panel discussion will explore best practices for communicating with new clients; how to formulate a project bid that is clear and fair; the advantages and disadvantages of charging by the hour, page, or word; important factors to take into account when formulating a bid; and how to promote one’s services and abilities to prospective clients.
A professional writer and editor with more than 15 years of marketing and communications experience, Hilary Achauer specializes in health and wellness, having written for San Diego Magazine, CrossFit Journal, UCSD Health Services, the Rady School of Management, National University, and many others. Hilary is a former children’s book editor and worked as an editor at one of the country’s top publishing houses.
For more than 30 years, Anita Palmer, founder of TheStrongWord.com, has used her writing and editing skills to help publishers, authors, magazines, newspapers, businesses, and individuals with their messaging and manuscripts. A former managing editor of a national monthly magazine, Anita has also worked as a reporter and assistant news editor at a metropolitan newspaper and as a university’s media relations officer.
Lynette Smith’s 30-plus years of freelance editing experience started with 16 years of operating Qualitype Editing and Word Processing, followed by 5 years as managing editor for a trade association. Today she’s in her 11th year with her company, All My Best Copyediting and Heartfelt Publishing. Despite having hourly rates at the higher end of the scale, Lynette still receives a large percentage of the copyediting projects she bids on.
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Meeting Details
Thursday, March 19, 2015
6:30 – 8:30 pm
San Diego Room
County Health Services Complex
3851 Rosecrans St.
San Diego 92110
Google Map
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Sneak Peek: May 21 Program Meeting — Editing ESL Authors
Kim Gonzalez Lawgali discusses “Somewhere in the Middle: Problems Non-native English Speakers Have in Writing Using Middle Voice”
Jane Starrett presents “What’s in a Word? The Importance of Vocabulary for Non-native English Writers”
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Please join me in extending a warm SD/PEN welcome to the following five new members who have signed up since the November 2014 program meeting:
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Working With and Around Graphics
By Camille Cloutier
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As a follow up to the July 2014 program meeting’s featured discussion, Sharon Penny and Kimberly Lamke Calderon returned to discuss the basics of graphic design, how to work with graphic designers, and how to speak their language.
Sharon, SD/PEN’s vice president of communications and marketing, has more than 35 years of experience in the communications field, with the last 15 years as director of communications at San Diego State University, and has supervised editors and graphic designers. Kimberly works as a freelance photographer and is currently employed as communications director of Communications Services for SDSU’s Student Affairs division.
 Kimberly explained that people today are more visual, and as a result, the ability to communicate visually has become even more important for writers and editors. She pointed out that companies are looking for editors who can do more than strictly edit, and that prospective employers prefer hiring people who can also write, design, take photographs, create webpages, blog, and participate in other social media. She stressed that editors must learn to communicate effectively with graphic designers. Successful communication is a result of writing and visuals complementing one another in an optimal fashion.
Sharon and Kimberly discussed the basics of good design elements: fonts, contrast, repetition, alignment, proximity, and image choice. One member asked if the chosen style should be consistent throughout a magazine. The response indicated that most magazines work from an internal design style guide that determines their design decisions, and the prevailing style of a magazine differs depending on their target market. For example, younger people tend to be drawn to edgier styles. Fonts and graphics are used to communicate your message, so it is important to know the difference between a serif font and a sans serif font and when to use one or the other. But most importantly, fonts should be legible. A good resource for fonts mentioned in the presentation is dafont.com, a company that offers an enormous variety of fonts, some of which are free.
Regarding alignment of visual and text elements, the grid style is commonly used for webpages. Paragraphs are not indented, and there is more space between the different text elements. Nothing in a design should look as if it were placed randomly. Every element is connected visually via an invisible line. Alignment is about obtaining unity among elements.
Following the presentation, a number of questions were fielded from the audience:
Should one use TrueType vs. OpenType fonts?
The answer was that it is best to check with whomever one is working for before selecting a particular font.
Starting out as editors, how did [the presenters] make the transition to their current positions?
Sharon began by working for her high school newspaper, and her first job involved working for a publishing company where she had to utilize both editing and layout skills. Kimberly worked at her college newspaper, where she did the layout and consulted with the designer. Her work also involved “messing with leading and alignment.”
Where can one learn more about working with graphics?
Sharon said she learned a lot on the job. Kimberly studied web design. Many opportunities for study are available through adult education classes. Both Kimberly and Sharon use Adobe InDesign. Many workshops are available from Adobe. The website lynda.com® offers a variety of software training programs for a $25-per-month subscription. YouTube is another source of information about software programs.
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Please enjoy this selection of informative articles and blogs from around the web:
The Ultimate Tax Guide for Freelancers - FreelancersUnion.org
5 Tips for Getting Freelance Work - Copyediting.com
Working with Self-Publishing Authors, Part 2 - Society for Proofreaders and Editors (UK)
10 Social Media Tools for Small Businesses and Freelancers - Huffington Post
Call for Submissions
Members, if you’ve come across a handy or entertaining website, newsletter, app, or resource, or have read a useful book that you’d be willing to write a short review of for us, please let us know!
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